“Friend, buddy, whatever. You spend time with a guy, you kid around with him. You want to think that he’s leveling with you and that you can read him. When you find out you’ve been wrong, well, maybe he’s been bullshitting you or maybe you just can’t read people. Either way, that can be a dangerous proposition up here.”
“Don’t feel bad about having misread him,” said Lorraine. “I did, too. Addicts are con artists. It’s part of their survival instinct. Even if they clean up, those other habits die hard.”
“I know something about addicts,” said Dan, forcing himself to brighten the somber mood. “My ex-wife was addicted to her career.”
Lorraine laughed. “And you weren’t?”
Dan grinned back at her, ruefully.
“You know,” she said, more seriously, “that’s the first time you’ve mentioned your ex-wife to me.”
“Someday I’ll tell you the rest of the story.”
“I’d like that.”
Before Dan could say anything more Kurt Jaeckle appeared in the infirmary doorway. Jaeckle looked more than grim; he looked scared.
“Has either of you seen Lance Muncie?” he asked.
Dan and Lorraine looked at each other.
Dan said, “He just completed transferring O’Donnell to the observatory along with Freddy Aviles.”
“I think he’s suffering from Orbital Dementia,” said Jaeckle. He described his encounter with Lance in the logistics module. The account was disturbing enough in itself, but Jaeckle’s narrative skills made it sound chilling. Throughout, Lorraine hovered close to Dan. At the mention of the tattered flowers, she nudged softly against his shoulder. Jaeckle concluded: “I’m certain he was referring to me.”
Dan scrutinized Jaeckle suspiciously. He knew that Jaeckle often blabbed to the other scientists that the station commander “had it in for” the Mars Project and had sent Russell Cramer Earthside as part of some convoluted personal vendetta. He also knew that Jaeckle and Lance were inextricably linked by Carla Sue Gamble. Lance had fought with O’Donnell. But he said he had been provoked and O’Donnell hadn’t contradicted him. Was this a poor attempt at payback by Jaeckle? Or was it a legitimate report?
“Lorraine?” he asked.
“No harm in examining him,” she replied.
Dan nodded abruptly, then looked at his wristwatch. “We all have jobs to do,” he said.
“Yes,” said Lorraine. “I’ve got to log in the results of the latest test I performed.”
Dan wanted to kiss her, right there in front of Jaeckle. Instead he settled for a grin. My pressure’s down, he said to himself again as he sailed toward his own office. And Lorraine’s just as happy about is as I am.
Lance responded without any hesitation to Lorraine’s suggestion that he come to the infirmary. That was a positive sign, she thought. Russell Cramer had routinely avoided her.
She studied Lance’s appearance between glances at his personnel file. The gash on his cheek and jaw was starting to scab. His blond hair was neatly tucked beneath a hairnet. His uniform was in good shape. He seemed slightly edgy, occasionally biting his lower lip or running his tongue along the outside of his front teeth. But everyone was a little edgy. Lance had better reasons than most.
“Have your stomach problems persisted?”
“Nope. Eating fine now,” said Lance. “Are you seeing me because you think something else is wrong?”
“I believe it’s a good idea to talk to everyone on the station,” said Lorraine. “I wanted to start with you because you’ve been at the center of these events.”
Lance rubbed his jaw with his knuckles. “I’ll say.”
“Do you feel troubled at all?”
“I’m troubled that a man got killed,” said Lance. “But you don’t mean that.”
“That’s right, Lance. I mean that you more than anyone are carrying images of what happened. You discovered the body and you were the victim of an attack. Will those images interfere with your work?”
“Nope,” said Lance.
“Would you want to return to Earth?”
“I have more’n two more months to go up here.”
“I realize that,” said Lorraine. “But this is very important now, Lance. Does the fact that Constellation will be here shortly put the idea in your head that you might want to return now?”
Lance emphatically shook his head.